Prepare to Dice Edition

Review

So me and the grill-fiend went and saw Dunkirk the day before yesterday. I can’t say it didn’t deserve its good reviews, because it probably did. And the aeroplane combat scenes were just great. In fact, so great, they made me want to write a system for flying planes in your RPG system. Or mostly air combat. With fighter planes.

A few days ago I acquired the book Burning Wheel Gold (as I had intended for some time now but it had been out of print). It may be one of the only games I could see myself running RAW (that is, “rules as written”, for those that didn’t know). It’s a really nice book, some five, six hundred pages bound in hardcover, and it wasn’t too expensive either. It only cost me the swedish equivalent of 29 dollars.

The rules themselves are interesting too. It has a pretty simple dice pool system, and a character creation system involving choosing lifepaths that link together. But the most important bit is probably the Beliefs, Instincts, Traits system, which gives the characters clear goals with clear rewards. And it’s all about the conflict inherent in goals (you need to do something to achieve them). Check it out if you haven’t.

Despite it obviously being a game with stories, it does not feel like a stereotypical “storygame”, but instead crunchy, meaty, and somehow traditional. I quite like it. A full review might be whirled into existence later, but for now take a look at the free stuff if you haven’t already. It might have something to give you.

So I finished reading this book I spoke of. (The surprising thing isn’t that I’m done, but that it took this long… the book is only around 110 pages). Anyways, I promised a review/impressions post, so here it is.